The Tower of London

There's been a lot going on this week.  John took Thursday and Friday off so we could spend the night in London visiting a friend who was in town.  We took the train to London.  Soon as we arrived, I used the toilet where my camera met with an unexpected fall off the hook on the wall and crashed about 5 feet to the concrete floor.  Yeah...it shook it up pretty good.  I tried using it, but discovered the autofocus and metering were out and there was a crack in the lens mount.  So, we took the camera to a camera store there and left it Friday morning.  I had to use my cell phone for our Tower of London and Kensington Palace tour.  I was bummed.

It was a gloomy, cold day in London which was rather fitting for this tour, however, didn't make for gorgeous fall shots.  As you can see, fall is peaking here and it is beautiful. 

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We followed along with a tour by the Warden Yeoman, also known as a Beefeater.  It was a great tour.  He explained all the gruesome stuff that occurred in the towers including the beheading of Queen Anne, the second wife of King Henry the VIII, which I found to be the most tragic.

This was a very exciting part of towers, where they keep the Crown Jewels.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed.  But, they were incredible to see and makes you realize the wealth these families have.

The Ceremony of the Keys is a very popular event.  This ceremony is the longest running ceremony in England....hundreds of years without fail.  Every night when they lock up the towers, they perform this ceremony.  It is a free event open to the public, but we couldn't get a booking until May!

Roman Spas in Bath

Finally getting a chance to catch up with our trip to Bath.  Below are the photos from the Roman Spas that we toured.  As I mentioned before, the spas are not used by the public now.  There are modern spas near the area that you can go to and enjoy the warm spring water.  We plan to go back and do just that.  The spas date back to 60 AD.  They are the only hot springs in England. The architecture in Bath is just amazing, mostly replicating Roman architecture.

Bury St. Edmunds Abbey Ruins

I wasn't sure what to expect when John said we were going to see the Bury St. Edmunds Abbey ruins in.  The St. Edmundsbury Cathedral grounds and gardens are beautiful and the ruins were way bigger than I had imagined.    One of the wealthiest and largest Benedictine Monasteries in England, much of the remains are now just rubble.  In 902 AD the grounds become a Royal Burial Site for King Edmund and in 1020 the Benedictine Abbey is founded.  In 1327 due to riots in the town, parts of the abbey are destroyed by fire and the west tower collapses.  Between 1540 and 1720 much of the abbey is stripped of valuable building material and what remains is what you see today.  Surviving are two medieval gatehouses and two medieval churches.  Houses have been built into the sides of some of the rubble.

We walked around the town and had a coffee at a little coffee shop overlooking the town square and the Great Gate.

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